Cruise; December 29th

Our last day on the cruise was spent at sea.  We played in the sun, at the pool and just chased our kids around the ship (what else do parents of two small children do on vacation?)

My handsome brother, Kyle. 

Either Dad is throwing Kyle out the window, or he is trying to stop him from jumping... either way, we're glad he is still with us. 

Sydney hit the dance floor and stole every one's heart with her little moves. 

There went mamarazzi again- privacy please! 

Our final dinner was SO much fun.  Lots of dancing, music and fun celebrations. 

We drew names the first day on the ship and had a limit of $5 to spend finding a fun gift for our secret person.  There were some interesting gifts, to say the least. 

Two of our very own participated in the final show on the ship- Josh played the role of Elvis, and Chanel, Britney Spears.  My Dad was kind enough to hang back with the kids while they slept so Rob and I could catch the show. 

Such a great way to end the trip. 

We had such a great Christmas-- definitely different, but hey, I would do it again.

Cruise: December 28th

We spent a beautiful day in Grand Cayman.  We didn't have much planned; some of our group was doing a dive, but my little crew stuck with my parents and brother and we took a boat out to the middle of the ocean, and got to swim around on a sand bar, and play with sting rays.  Scarlett said it was her favorite part of the whole trip because she got to stand on the bottom of the entire ocean.

 On the taxi ride to the dock Scarlett had a massive meltdown.  The kind where you want to just crawl under a rock and hide because she is so unbelievably out of control.  The best part was one of the guys at the dock telling Rob-- "This isn't the US, you know.  We spank our kids here."

She eventually chilled out and had a great time with the rest of us.

Rob took some shots of us at the sand bar. 

Scarlett was petrified of the sting rays.  She was constantly thrashing around trying to see where they were in the water. 

We each had a turn holding the sting ray, and getting a back massage.  Sydney thought it felt pretty nice, Scarlett made that thing keep its distance.

After the sand bar we went snorkeling and saw some pretty fish.  Then it was back to the ship for more delicious food. 

Cruise; December 27th

Our day in Honduras was our absolute favorite day of the whole cruise.  We stopped in Roatan, which is an island off Honduras.  The people were amazingly friendly and seemed genuinely happy to show us around their beautiful home.  We took a nice drive through the island until we got to our first destination where we would zipline through the jungle.

My family.  

The whole shabang.  All 19 of us.

 Sydney spotted the monkey.

  I would say the only real downside to being the only ones in our group with kids is that we didn't get to do everything with the group.  We stayed behind with the girls while everyone else ziplined.

 This was such a big deal for my mom (and I am sure she appreciates this picture! Love you!); Mom is terrified of heights.  Like, we had to force her up the Eiffle Tower.  But she, like everyone else, enjoyed every minute.

The zipline was different than I expected.  We basically zig-zagged through the jungle on 14 different lines.

The little white dot wearing the orange helmet below is my Mom.  We were able to watch them go while we hung out with the girls at the starting point.

 There goes Dad! 

 I have always wanted a monkey for a pet.  ALWAYS.  I would never actually do it, but getting to play with this monkey was a highlight for me!

Once our group returned, it was our turn!  So excited.  We absolutely loved it... Except on the second line, I stopped in the middle.  I started pulling myself to the platform, and one of the workers came out and got me. He chuckled and told me the guy had hooked me up wrong, which is why I stopped, and I panicked and asked "Hooked me up wrong as in I could have fallen to my death!?"  I had Rob check me before I went on each line after that!

While we were zipping through the jungle- the rest of our group was taken to a fun little beach.

 We joined them as soon as we were done.

Ashley, Uncle Jim, me, Rob, Chanel and Josh decided to go out on the banana boat for a bit.  We had SO. MUCH. FUN.  We each got thrown in to the ocean at least twice.  The guys driving the boat thought it was hilarious- but we were having so much fun, we didn't care they were making fun of us.

 I would go back to Roatan in a heartbeat.  We really had a great time.  We got back on the ship and got ready for our last formal night.  The girls loved wrestling on the bed while we got ready.

 Our little (growing) family.